This invention relates to an insert for a liquid vessel, and in particular to an anti-spillage insert to be used in conjunction with a liquid vessel, and to a liquid vessel with an insert providing anti-spillage features.
The invention is likely to find its greatest utility in relation to a drinks vessel, and the following description therefore refers primarily to such a vessels. However, the utility of the invention for other liquid vessels such as cartons, dishes, vases, cooking pots, cooking pans, measuring jugs, paint pots, glue pots, watering cans, other cans, drums, buckets, pails, churns, tanks, vats, tubs and trays, as well as other domestic, commercial, agricultural, transportation and industrial vessels, is not thereby excluded.
Conventional drinks vessels (e.g. cups, beakers, glasses, and other vessels) suffer from the disadvantage of liquid spillage either if the holder has difficulty keeping the vessel steady (e.g. neurological disorders, young children), or if the holder is situated on or in a vehicle (e.g. cars, boats, trains, aeroplanes, and other forms of transport), or if the holder is situated on or in an unstable environment (e.g. lifts, platforms, boat houses, and other environments).
Spilled liquid can cause scalding to the person if the liquid is hot, and/or can cause damage to the person""s clothing or adjacent furniture or machinery.
It is the object of this invention to provide an insert for a drinks vessel, and a drinks vessel itself, which in use can significantly reduce the susceptibility for spillage.
According to the invention, therefore, there is provided an insert for a drinks vessel, the insert having a wall member which is adapted to span at least part of the vessel in use so as to divide a liquid present within the vessel.
The provision of the wall member to divide the liquid reduces the size of movement-induced disturbances in the surface of the liquid, so reducing the likelihood that those disturbances will spill over the top of the vessel.
Preferably, the wall member in use projects above the exposed surface of the liquid (or at least extends very close to that surface) when the vessel is full of liquid. The positioning of the wall member adjacent the exposed surface has a greater benefit than if the wall member is deeper within the body of the liquid. If the wall member is initially below the surface of the liquid, i.e. when the vessel is full and before the liquid has been drunk or otherwise depleted, it is preferably only a few millimeters, and preferably less than 10 mm, below that surface.
Preferably also, the wall member extends a significant way down the body of the liquid in use, i.e. the wall member occupies a significant proportion of the depth of the vessel. Thus, notwithstanding that movement-induced disturbances are only visible at the exposed surface of the liquid, those disturbances are also present within the body of the liquid, and the presence of a wall member only adjacent the exposed surface of the liquid is not likely to be fully effective. Accordingly, the wall member preferably extends all of the way, or almost all of the way, down to the bottom of the vessel. If the wall member does not extend all of the way down to the bottom of the vessel, it preferably extends to within a few millimetres, and ideally to within less than 10 mm, of the bottom.
Desirably, the wall member completely spans the vessel so that parts of the liquid are separated thereby. Desirably also, there are a number of wall members so that the liquid is divided (or separated) into a number of smaller xe2x80x9ccellsxe2x80x9d, i.e. sections of liquid with a reduced exposed surface area.
A first variant of the invention provides an insert suitable for insertion in a conventional drinks vessel and which effectively divides the drinks vessel into a number of cells of liquid of small surface area. This insert can be retained in the drinks vessel either by friction (e.g. it is a resiliently expandable structure), by virtue of its weight, or by fixing means (e.g. suction cups, friction rings, etc.) which may or may not be permanently attached to the insert.
The first variant can be tapered so as to fit into a correspondingly tapered drinks vessel, rounded so as to fit into a correspondingly rounded drinks vessel, or can be non-tapered for fitment into a parallel-sided drinks vessel.
Preferably the insert is made of plastics material, but it may instead be made of other materials (e.g. metal, ceramic, glass, resin, paper, and composite materials, etc).
Preferably the insert is readily removable and easily cleaned, adaptable to vessels of differing diameters (by virtue of being expandable, for example), and adaptable to vessels of differing depths (by virtue of being telescopic, or useable in pairs, etc., for example). The reference to xe2x80x9cdiameterxe2x80x9d is made here since the majority of drinks vessels are of circular cross-section; however, an insert for a non-circular drinks vessel is not excluded from the invention, which insert could have a cross-sectional shape corresponding to that of the vessel it is intended to fit.
A second variant of the invention provides an xe2x80x9cinsertxe2x80x9d which is an integral part of a drinks vessel, i.e. the insert is added to the vessel as part of the manufacturing process. In this variant the insert similarly divides the drinks vessel into a number of connected cells of liquid of smaller surface area.
Preferably the insert of this second variant is made of similar material to the drinks vessel and is manufactured as part of the drinks vessel.